Scandal-hit Volkswagen set to name new CEO

BERLIN: German car giant Volkswagen is set to replace its chief executive Matthias Mueller Thursday, as it struggles to move on from the “dieselgate” emissions scandal that has mired the company since 2015.

The supervisory board of the world’s leading carmaker will meet a day ahead of schedule and will announce its decisions in a statement, a source close to the company told AFP late Wednesday.

Volkswagen on Tuesday announced it was considering reshuffling its board and replacing Mueller, in a move that sent stocks in the company surging.

Mueller had “signalled he was open to play a part in the changes” in conversations with supervisory board chief Hans Dieter Poetsch, the company said in a statement.

German business newspaper Handelsblatt and national news agency DPA reported Herbert Diess, head of the VW brand — one of the group’s 12 makes of cars, trucks and motorbikes — was slated to take Mueller’s place.

Mueller, a former chief executive of sportscar-building VW subsidiary Porsche AG, was brought in to replace Martin Winterkorn in 2015 and was contracted to serve until 2020.

Longtime CEO Winterkorn quit after the firm admitted to manipulating 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to cheat regulatory emissions tests in a scandal that became known as “dieselgate”.